WITNESS engages technology companies, creates new tools, and supports digital policies that help human rights advocates safely, effectively, and ethically use video to document abuses and expose them to the world.

We work on tools that help citizen media creators add context and veracity to their media, protect those that they film, and use live video in ways that are more immersive and impactful.

WITNESS joins with allies to engage on the policy and governance decisions that shape the digital realm, contributing our perspective at the intersections of video, citizen participation, and human rights.

WITNESS advocates that users have the ability to:

CREATE

content with human rights value freely and effectively

WITNESS supports policies that protect users’ rights to record and pushes for new ways to deliver guidance that helps creators understand how to stay safe, protect others, and create content that will have an impact.

CONNECT

widely and freely with content, ideas, and people

WITNESS engages companies on questions of how important content is highlighted and protected, even if much of it deals with controversial or violent subject matter, and we focus our policy efforts on issues of access and censorship.

CONTROL

their own data and identity online

WITNESS advocates for visual anonymity functionalities like facial blurring alongside guidance on consent and privacy, and we join with allies to call for policies that respect user privacy and free expression online.

CONTEXTUALIZE

content so it can be found and trusted

Citizen media creators need new ways to make their content easier to find, trust, and act upon, and the ability to create and share rich metadata — and have their privacy protected when they do — is central part of our strategy.